Postgraduate Affairs Committee
Meeting: 25th November 2009, 12pm in B09
Minutes
Present: Rosanna Keefe, Rob Hopkins, Jimmy Lenman, Dominic Gregory, Joanne Elliott, Graeme
Forbes, Angela Pepper, Inga Vermeulen, Carraig Dillon
Apologies: Jack Wadham, Rachel Palmer
1) Work rooms in Victoria Street (including B23)
There was discussion of how the postgraduates were finding the new building in Victoria Street, and
in particular the work rooms. The general consensus seems to be that it is all working out well. The
relevant end of the building is often too hot, however, and RK agreed to put up a notice by the
thermostat asking that it not be turned up.
It was agreed that 2 rooms should be designated as quiet rooms, and the ground floor computer
room and largest attic room were chosen for this purpose. RK agreed to consult Biblical Studies, put
up notes and inform the postgraduates.
We decided to have B23 as a bookable room, which can be used for meetings, reading groups etc. JE
agreed to hang a diary on the door for people to fill in bookings. Since it is important to show that
the room is well used by Philosophy and Biblical Studies (else we risk it becoming a pool room
available to all departments), students should fill in bookings retrospectively, if they have used the
room on finding it empty.
Out-of-hours access. RH and IV reported that postgraduates can now do out-of-hours training online
and that it is relatively quick and straightforward. Sally has emailed them with the details of how to
do this. Once students have done out-of-hours and fire training, they can apply to have out-of-hours
access to the building.
2) RTP (brief report on University plans in relation to the RTP)
The Research Training Programme is currently under review by the University and RK reported on
the reports so far. The review recognises the importance of “subject specific advanced training”, so
our Philosophy modules (PHI6700 PhD Proposal and PHI6060 Philosophy Tutor Training) do not
seem to be under threat. It also recognises the value of “subject specific craft skills” and the cases of
our students doing language modules to support their research falls under that heading. RK also
reported on a 10-credit module in which students get credit for various activities that they would be
undertaking anyway (such as attending departmental seminars, going to a conference, preparing a
paper for publication, keeping a CV up-to-date etc.).
RK reported that the review looks set to abandon the system of (full and partial) exemptions from
the RTP. This will affect students who have done our MA and go on to the PhD here, for in the past
they have always had exemptions on the grounds of having already completed a substantial quantity
of research training as part of the MA. RK has been trying to fight the decision to ban exemptions
and GF offered to speak up about this at an appropriate point. It was emphasised that, with the
university guideline of 10 hours work per 1 credit, the RTP requirement of 45 credits is a very heavy
workload on top of PhD work (especially in a climate where completion time is so important). There
was some discussion of possible RTP modules that the department could put on to fill the gap, but
no ideal solution was reached.
3) PhD Proposal as part of MA (and the division into Taught MA/Research MA)
RK had consulted some recent MA students about how they had found doing the PhD proposal
module as part of the MA and the feedback was somewhat mixed. In general, students found it a
hard thing to tackle and felt it was hard to carry-out if you had a non-analytical project or a case
where you don’t know the upshot will be of reading a large body of texts. There was a sense that we
didn’t give very much guidance, but that it was far from clear what further guidance could be given.
Some students were glad they had done the proposal, but the respondents seemed to be in favour
of our offering the alternative of writing another essay instead of doing the PhD Proposal. At the
meeting, more people spoke up on the worth of the PhD Proposal and we considered our options,
including making the proposal optional and finding a way to make it a pass/fail assignment. We also
discussed the role of the distinction between the Taught and Research MAs. No substantial
conclusions were reached.
4) Admissions and Funding Matters
The University has put the deadline for funding applications on 15th January – much earlier than
comparable deadlines in previous years. Jimmy and Dominic have been working hard to make sure
everyone knows of the deadline and we hope that applications aren’t too badly affected.
5) AOB
There was no other business.